[ti:A Compromise on Climate Change]
[ar:Steve Ember]
[al:IN THE NEWS]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]This is IN THE NEWS
[00:05.17]in VOA Special English.
[00:08.44]Almost two hundred countries
[00:10.80]met for two weeks
[00:12.54]at a United Nations conference
[00:15.22]on climate change
[00:16.77]in Copenhagen, Denmark.
[00:19.46]In the end, only five of them
[00:22.70]reached an agreement:
[00:24.35]the United States, China,
[00:27.95]India, Brazil and South Africa.
[00:31.90]President Obama praised
[00:34.35]the agreement last Friday.
[00:36.76]This week, he said many people
[00:39.50]are disappointed in the agreement.
[00:42.29]But he said the compromise
[00:44.94]was better than nothing.
[00:47.03]The voluntary agreement
[00:49.52]urges major polluters
[00:51.77]to make deeper cuts in the
[00:54.48]release of greenhouse gases.
[00:57.38]Greenhouse gas emissions,
[00:59.80]such as carbon dioxide,
[01:02.19]are created in part
[01:04.23]by burning oil and coal
[01:07.18]for transportation and electricity.
[01:10.81]The agreement sets targets
[01:13.45]to prevent the Earth's
[01:15.50]average temperature from rising
[01:18.09]more than two degrees Celsius
[01:20.65]above pre-industrial levels.
[01:23.94]And the plan calls for
[01:26.42]one hundred billion dollars a year
[01:29.12]in aid to poor nations
[01:31.80]to deal with climate change.
[01:34.61]This would start
[01:36.24]in two thousand twenty.
[01:37.94]But the agreement,
[01:40.19]known as the Copenhagen Accord,
[01:42.99]is not legally binding.
[01:45.54]It fails to set detailed targets
[01:49.18]for cuts in carbon emissions.
[01:52.06]And it failed to earn the support
[01:55.35]of all the nations at the talks.
[01:58.49]India's environment minister
[02:02.29]praised the united position
[02:04.84]taken by India, China,
[02:07.47]Brazil and South Africa.
[02:10.87]He said it permitted them
[02:13.24]to avoid the legally binding targets
[02:16.79]and international supervision proposed
[02:20.48]by developed countries.
[02:22.59]India, for example,
[02:24.74]has promised to cut emissions by
[02:27.85]at least twenty percent
[02:29.66]from two thousand five levels
[02:32.84]by two thousand twenty.
[02:34.87]But big developing countries do not
[02:38.61]want to limit their economic growth.
[02:41.85]They say rich nations created the problem,
[02:46.42]so they should take most
[02:48.57]of the responsibility
[02:50.25]for reducing greenhouse gases.
[02:53.59]China rejected accusations
[02:56.60]by critics that it was responsible
[03:00.00]for the results at Copenhagen.
[03:02.98]A Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said
[03:06.46]developed countries did not
[03:09.10]perform well at the talks.
[03:11.79]She said China has taken its
[03:15.38]own measures to fight climate
[03:18.26]change and supports pressing ahead
[03:21.66]with international cooperation.
[03:24.54]China and other large developing countries
[03:29.40]have accused rich nations
[03:32.34]of failing to offer big enough cuts
[03:36.06]in their own emissions.
[03:38.50]They also say wealthy nations
[03:41.74]did not offer enough money
[03:44.43]and technology to help poor countries
[03:48.32]deal with climate change.
[03:51.10]In Europe, politicians
[03:54.19]and environmentalists expressed
[03:56.98]deep disappointment that
[03:59.42]world leaders failed to
[04:01.37]reach a stronger agreement.
[04:04.15]But United Nations Secretary
[04:07.65]General Ban Ki-moon says
[04:09.82]the Copenhagen Accord
[04:11.88]is only a beginning.
[04:15.02]He says he will work
[04:17.16]with world leaders to reach
[04:19.11]a legally binding treaty
[04:21.45]in the coming months.
[04:23.88]By next month all countries
[04:27.17]are supposed to have plans
[04:29.48]for cutting emissions.
[04:31.92]And climate talks will continue
[04:35.21]in the coming year with meetings
[04:38.84]in Germany and Mexico.
[04:41.97]And that's IN THE NEWS
[04:44.31]in VOA Special English.
[04:47.75]I'm Steve Ember.
END OF TRACK. "END OF TRACK." The two men bowed. "Whoever was that person you were talking to?" she enquired, as soon as they stood together. The took of triumph faded from her eyes, she had grown worn and weary. The roses were wilting on the walls, the lights were mostly down now. Hetty, looking in to see if anything was wanted, found herself driven away almost fiercely. I only saw Master Jervie once when he called at tea time, The year 1747 was opened by measures of restriction. The House of Lords, offended at the publication of the proceedings of the trial of Lord Lovat, summoned the parties to their bar, committed them to prison, and refused to liberate them till they had pledged themselves not to repeat the offence, and had paid very heavy fees. The consequence of this was that the transactions of the Peers were almost entirely suppressed for nearly thirty years from this time, and we draw our knowledge of them chiefly from notes taken by Horace Walpole and Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. What is still more remarkable, the reports of the House of Commons, being taken by stealth, and on the merest sufferance, are of the most meagre kind, sometimes altogether wanting, and the speeches are given uniformly under fictitious names; for to have attributed to Pitt or Pelham their[112] speeches by name would have brought down on the printers the summary vengeance of the House. Many of the members complained bitterly of this breach of the privileges of Parliament, and of "being put into print by low fellows"; but Pelham had the sense to tolerate them, saying, "Let them alone; they make better speeches for us than we can make for ourselves." Altogether, the House of Commons exhibited the most deplorable aspect that can be conceived. The Ministry had pursued Walpole's system of buying up opponents by place, or pension, or secret service money, till there was no life left in the House. Ministers passed their measures without troubling themselves to say much in their behalf; and the opposition dwindled to Sir John Hinde Cotton, now dismissed from office, and a feeble remnant of Jacobites raised but miserable resistance. In vain the Prince of Wales and the secret instigations of Bolingbroke and Doddington stimulated the spirit of discontent; both Houses had degenerated into most silent and insignificant arenas of very commonplace business. "It certainly will be. Miss Widgeon," answered Maria, with strictly "company manners." "One who has never had a brother exposed to the constant dangers of army life can hardly understand how glad we all feel to have Si snatched from the very jaws of death and brung back to us." "Just plug at 'em as you would at a crow, and then go on your way whistlin'?" persisted Harry. "Hurroo!" echoed Hennessey; "that's the ticket." "Come forward, keeper," continued the baron, "and state how these arrows came into your hands!" "Yes." HoMEJULIA¾©Ïã2018ÏÂÔØ
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